Breakdown of Quando encontrares o portão fechado, liga-lhe para que ele venha abrir.
ele
he
abrir
to open
quando
when
encontrar
to find
para que
so that
vir
to come
ligar
to call
fechado
closed
lhe
him
o portão
the gate
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Questions & Answers about Quando encontrares o portão fechado, liga-lhe para que ele venha abrir.
Why is encontrares used instead of encontras or another tense?
In Portuguese, subordinate clauses introduced by quando referring to future events require the future subjunctive, not the present indicative (encontras) or the future indicative (encontrarás). So for tu the correct form is encontrares.
How do you form the future subjunctive of encontrar, for example encontrares?
- Take the third-person plural of the simple past (pretérito perfeito): encontraram.
- Remove -ram, leaving encontra-.
- Add the personal endings: -r (eu), -res (tu), - (ele/ela), -mos, -des, -em.
For tu, that yields encontrares.
Why is the second verb liga (imperative) and not ligas or ligue?
This is an affirmative command addressed to tu (familiar “you”).
- The present indicative is tu ligas.
- To form the affirmative imperative for tu, you drop the final -s: liga.
- Ligue would be the formal imperative for você.
What does -lhe in liga-lhe stand for, and why that pronoun?
-lhe is the third-person singular indirect-object pronoun meaning “to him” or “to her.”
The verb ligar, when used in the sense “to call someone on the phone,” is constructed as ligar a alguém (to call to someone). Therefore you must use the indirect-object pronoun lhe.
Why is the pronoun in liga-lhe attached after the verb, rather than placed before it (as you might expect from English)?
Portuguese has strict rules for clitic placement. In European Portuguese:
- After a comma and in affirmative imperatives, you use enclisis (attach the pronoun to the end of the verb): liga-lhe.
Proclisis (pronoun before the verb) would be used in negative commands or when certain words like não, se, que precede the verb.
Why do we use para que ele venha abrir and why is venha in the subjunctive?
Para que introduces a purpose clause (“so that…”). In Portuguese, purpose clauses are followed by the subjunctive mood because they express intention or desire, not a statement of fact.
- Venha is the present subjunctive of vir (“to come”), so literally “so that he comes to open.”
Could I omit que and say para ele abrir instead of para que ele venha abrir?
In European Portuguese, para que + subjunctive is the standard way to express purpose.
- Saying para ele abrir uses an infinitive clause (“for him to open”) and can sound more like a causal or result clause rather than a clear purpose statement.
Why is the object of abrir (“o portão”) omitted after venha abrir?
This is simple ellipsis: since o portão has already been mentioned in the first clause, Portuguese often drops the repeated object in the second clause when context makes it obvious.